Electrical connectors and pin grid arrays having large pluralities of contacts ar utilized to electrically interconnect printed circuit boards and other devices. The mechanical and electrical integrity of mated contacts is maintained by frictional forces exerted between the surfaces of corresponding contacts and/or sockets. To demate large pluralities of mated contacts, a considerable separation force may be required to overcome the combined frictional forces of the contacts.
Problems arise where the separation force required to separate or remove the connectors from the printed circuit boards or to demate mated contacts is such as to overstress the boards by bending or flexing thereof. Such stresses may result in broken connections, broken components and/or damaged circuit boards. One approach to these problems is to utilize expensive and cumbersome extracting devices, although such devices may still exert unnecessary stresses on the circuit boards, bend pins and/or overstress the plastic or ceramic housings of the connector.
Another approach is to limit the number of contacts contained in the electrical connectors. This approach is of limited utility in the present day due to technology requirements that mandate the use of large numbers of contacts.